3,460 karma · joined July 27, 2011
But for plenty of other masters - think Cassavetes, Mike Leigh, even PTA - the actor's outstanding talent and instincts bring something to the script and vision that is outside of their prescriptive powers. Their focus is essentially setting up a framework for magic to happen inside of.
That flows to the dysmorphia stuff. I meant that it indirectly encourages body dysmorphia because it side-steps the shame and compulsive behavior that lead to the person's original obesity. So long after the weight-loss, you remain freighted with the toxic "weight-based" mental model of your body, rather than a holistic one of nutrition and well-being.
My personal experience has been shifting my goal from "weight loss" to the much more empowering role of being a caretaker. This paradigm shift was the hack that finally got me out of terrible eating cycles, and put me in a much better place.
There is definitely a place for Ozempic, particularly as a stop-gap in acute obesity. But I believe it defers personal responsibility for one's nutrition and well-being.
https://www.thirdway.org/report/missing-the-juice-whats-happ...
Prior to 2014, the site thrived because it took music at face value, and ranked new releases based upon what artists were contributing to the overall canon of progressive independent pop music.
Everything changed in 2015. There was a drastic editorial shift, where the publication became repulsed by its own "unbearable whiteness" [1]. A kind of over-correction began, with the publication championing what they felt was the 'right' kinds of music to promote.
It never caught on. The old audience moved on, and the younger audience were left scratching their heads as to why they should like artists being lauded by the reviewers as being of high cultural significance.
[1] https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/710-the-unbearable-whiteness-....
Any sustained outdoor work like landscaping, roofing, and plumbing is brutal on the body in the long-term. Even the salty old kitchen workers I've met eventually start falling to bits.
Star athletes are also inculcated with a conscientiousness around health and fitness that desk jockeys and eggheads don't have the benefits of.
I don't mean to trivialize your situation, but I recently learned about nociception [1] and your condition reminded me of what sucks about it. Ie, the emotional trauma you now live with is almost more debilitating than the initial pain from the earlier events.
It is such a terrible part of our physiology. It intends to protect us from so much pain, but it just ends up taking so much by preventing us from experiencing again. Wishing you the strength to keep working through this complexity and finding peace.
A decent authority on the subject is Matt Stoller's book Goliath [1], which lays out the history of US monopolies and how they formed the bedrock for these modern tech companies. Their strategic dominance is no mistake. He argues that our era of monopoly power goes back to the resentment of New Deal reform, which began percolating in the economics department of University of Chicago in the 1960s and, in the 70s, entered public policy.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Goliath-100-Year-Between-Monopoly-Dem...
In terms of a plan for my buddy... God I just don't have a clue.
My friend is losing his wife/kids and likely moving back in with his folks. He's pretty medicated and has, in my unprofessional assessment, a high degree of learned helplessness from years of unemployment and doctors trying to sort him out.
He loves art, science, and culture (which we connect on), but I don't feel like sitting around and shooting the shit about post-war American art is going to help him. Nor do I think a 'wake the fuck up or else' is called for. But in the right context, maybe it is?
All I know is his mental health is going to plummet when he loses his identity of being an active father and husband. He barely moves all day as it is, but moving back home I think will break him.
Suicidal ideation weirdly isn't what I fear (even though it is very possible). It is more becoming a perma-zombie and vanishing into this abyss that has emerged. He really is in decline.
The 'Recommendation' quote just sounds typical of the edgy posturing we've seen Musk fall into. Once the pithy zing fades, we have an idea scales poorly.
There are a lot of dumb laws, but they are typically there to protect us and our fellow citizens from human beings (you and me) doing dumb shit. They are hardly recommendations. If anything, laws are the network protocol of society that allows us a semblance of reliability and stability in our operating environment.